It’s possible that you walked to your car this sweltering Denver day, hotter than Kate Upton, and said something along the lines of, “I’d rather become a Raiders fan than be outside.”
And so, here’s my favorite sports story of the day — 10 guys are playing 100 holes of golf today, walking the course, while raising money for charities.
Here’s how the whole thing started. Last year, , a Colorado kid who was snowboarding with his dad.
As I wrote in the piece:
Ben Cox remained conscious after he fell 25 feet from the sky and splattered onto the side of the mountain. “How I didn’t snap my neck and die,” he said, “I don’t know.”
Moments prior, on the slopes at Monarch this spring, Kenneth Cox playfully motivated his son to attempt a seemingly doable ski jump. Neither anticipated the upward lip. From about 100 feet down the mountain, the helpless father watched his helpless son. The crash sounded like a gunshot.
“I remember as I was going into the ambulance,” Cox said, “my dad was over me, crying and saying: ‘I’m sorry, I’m so sorry.’ “
Cox is paralyzed from the chest down. He had been a caddie at , the prestigious northwest Colorado golf club. A member there, Jim Colton, did the unthinkable for the caddie, whom Colton actually never met. To raise money for Cox, Colton played 155 holes of golf, receiving over $100,000 in pledged money.
“Now we’re taking it to another level,” Colton said. “Last year it was for one guy, one cause. Now all these guys walking for different causes.”
See, Colton created the , in which golfers across the country play 100 holes in a day, receiving online pledges of money for charity. This summer, 64 men are doing this, including the 10 today at Ballyneal.
“The greatest thing about the event, other than raising money, was the amount of energy from the golf community getting behind it,” said Colton, who estimated that the HHH has already raised $180,000 for 45 different charities. “It brings together passionate golfers who want to use the love of the game to change lives.”
Colton is playing for the Craig Hospital Foundation, for spinal cord injury research — that’s the Denver hospital where Ben Cox began his rehabilitation. of the guys at Ballyneal today and their charities.
You can follow golfers (such as ) by the hashtag #HHH on Twitter. I’ve been doing so all morning. It’s pretty cool.
As for Ben Cox, he’s back at school at Texas Tech, Colton said, finishing the civil engineering degree he began there before the accident. He’ll graduate in December. And he recently got engaged.
On Tuesday, he’s planning to go to Ballyneal and, with the use of a fascinating cart apparatus, will attempt to play nine holes of golf. Last year, he and his father were able to play two holes at Ballyneal. On Father’s Day.
Benjamin Hochman: 303-954-1294 or bhochman@denverpost.com
